Goodbye
by alwaysuptonogood
Summary: Harry leaves a letter to say goodbye to Ginny after Bill and Fleur's wedding. Harry/Ginny Oneshot.


"They've – they've gone?"

"Mum – there's no point denying it, they had to leave, Harry's number one on You Know Who's hit list!"

The sobbing stopped.

"Don't you let me ever catch you saying something like that iever/i again, Charles!"

"Charles?"

They'd been repeating this kind of argument for the past three hours, yet it didn't make it any less real for me. I was in shock. That's the only way to describe it. I just couldn't believe they had actually gone. And left us here. iGet a grip, Ginny! They /ihadi to leave, otherwise Voldemort would have Apparated into the garden then and there and-/i I didn't even let myself finish that thought. The prospect of ihim/i dead was too horrible to imagine. Even so, the image of Harry, bleeding to death in front of me, came into mind every single time I closed my eyes. So I don't trust myself to sleep.

Fred and George were trying to make a big joke out of the situation, but I could tell they felt awkward still. How could they not? For all we knew, Harry, Ron and Hermione could be dead! Dad had sent them a Patronus to tell them we were safe, but how would we know if they had been injured? What if a Death Eater had caught up with them? Or even Lord Voldemort himself!

I shook my head and stood up from the armchair by the window I had been sat in. Mum looked at me oddly and so I gave her a sad smile.

"I'm going to go to bed."

Mum nodded once and Phlegm smiled encouragingly at me from beside her. I hate to admit she's grown on me. Maybe one day I'll even start calling her Fleur? Wow; dream big, Ginny!

"Night, Gin," Charlie called to me from the other side of the room. Bill nodded at me while Remus forced a grim looking smile at me. Fred and George were immersed in their own conversation; as usual. Gabrielle had already gone to bed – the little cow was now sleeping in Charlie's old room – and the Delacours had been giving some sleeping potion for stress.

I left the room, leaving the door ajar behind me. I had got changed out of my ridiculous bridesmaids' dress long ago, at the first chance I got, just after the Death Eaters finally admitted to themselves that Harry wasn't here. It had taken them a while to realise that though. They'd ransacked every single inch of the house, practically stripping it down, searching for Harry.

I grimaced to myself as a started to make my way up the stairs, but Tonks appeared around the door of the kitchen, smiling radiantly. I don't know how she still managed to stay happy amongst all of the havoc.

"Hey, Ginny," she said brightly. I nodded at her, frowning, making to carry on up the stairs but Tonks stopped me, calling out. "Hey now, wait a second! You need to cheer up a bit!"

"Why?" I asked adamantly. How could I ipossibly/i cheer up right now?

"Harry's going to come back," Tonks said happily. I scowled at her.

"How do iyou/i know?" I asked moodily. Tonks beamed.

"Because Harry's always come back; he's a strong kid. You're iall/i strong kids."

I scowled again at the mention of the word kids, but didn't collaborate on it. At least ione/i of us was in a good mood.

"I guess so," I said awkwardly. "But there's no guarantee-"

"Oh, Ginny, just listen; you love Harry, don't you?"

My eyes widened. How did she...

"What?" I said quietly, still frozen on the stairs. Tonks sighed and stepped onto the bottom step.

"I am not blind, Ginny! Harry's birthday, is one example, the wedding, another, you and Harry when he arrived, picking you kids up from the Hogwarts Express, the-"

"Yes, OK, OK, I get it!" I snapped. Tonks smiled looking satisfied and took a step back from the stairs, smiling as though she knew everything.

"OK. Well you just think about that then, Ginny," she said knowingly, disappearing back into the kitchen.

"OK, then..." I said awkwardly, sprinting on up to my room and shutting the door, pulling the bolt across. Well, like it really helped.

I sighed and flopped down on my bed. How was iI/i supposed to know where they were? Mum kept on looking at me curiously, as if she knew something I didn't. I groaned as I thought of Harry, Ron and Hermione again and lay my head down on my pillow, trying to think back to Harry's birthday, only a day ago when I –

"Stop it, you idiot!" I snapped to myself.

I frowned as I heard a rustling from my pillow and I jumped up, thinking about Death Eaters raiding the house. Had they iput/i something there? I turned on my bed, staring at the pillow. It looked normal enough. I lifted it up cautiously, opening up the fold and reaching in with one hand. My hand reached a piece of parchment. Frowning, I pulled it out, staring at my hands in disbelief as I read the name on the front, scrawled messily.

iGinny/i

Frowning, I turned the parchment over...I knew that writing...

i_Dear Ginny,_

_I'm guessing I've gone. If I haven't, come and find me and tell me to get a move on and I'm a coward, because I am scared like hell. I can't tell Ron and Hermione that though – they're already trying to put this off enough. Normally I'd let them, but the sooner I leave, hopefully the sooner I'll be back. We're leaving straight after the wedding. _

_You must hate me. You can admit it if you like, I won't mind, I hate myself, and I've deserved it. You probably think I was trying to be a noble heroic idiot by breaking up with you, but I really wasn't. I'm just trying to keep you safe. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you were hurt – or worse killed – because of me. Everyone I love ends up getting hurt because of me. If Voldemort hurt you that bad when we were younger just because you were my best friends sister, then imagine what he'd do to you if he found out you were my girlfriend. He'd be murderous Ginny._

_I can't tell you what we're doing. I've told Ron and Hermione because Dumbledore told me to, but no-one else. But I promise you – when I come back – and I swear to Merlin, I will try to come back – I'll tell you everything. All the secrets of my life for the past seventeen years; believe me, there's a lot, and none of its nice! All I can tell you is that I've got to go. Voldemort's got to be killed, and if it means the loss of my life, then I'll have to do it. What's one life compared to the rest of the Wizarding World, hey?_

_I won't be able to write to you when I'm gone. It'd be a risk for everyone if I did and it'd be selfish of me. I had to get Hermione to place a load of spells on here to make it invisible to anyone but you. I don't know where on earth I will be when I'm gone but I'm trying my best to come back. If it really helps you – just forget about me. Forget I even said goodbye if you want. Pretend I never existed. Just know that I won't, I'll be thinking of you. No stopping me there!_

_I'll see you, Ginny._

_Love Harry._/i

I stared at the letter for a moment.

"Idiot..." I said weakly, stuffing the parchment into my jeans pocket. People he loved got hurt? Did that mean ihe/i loved me too? I stared at the wall, my eyes narrowed in curiosity. I could hear shouting downstairs, but that wasn't anything knew. It was more than likely mum shouting at Fred and George for accidently breaking something.

I pulled the parchment out of my pocket, staring at it for a moment before putting it on my bedside table, next to a picture of me and Harry by the lake. It was hard to think that we had been that happy only a few weeks ago... Harry was raising his eyebrows at the camera, looking cutely frustrated, while my head was resting on his shoulder. Just staring at it seemed to bring the memories back alive. It was frustrating to know that I was so out of reach of him... It's killing me! But there's no chance on earth of me forgetting goodbye. That letter had made it so. And it was one of the only things I had left of him...that and a Gryffindor Quidditch shirt of his that I had, er, icome across/i in his locker of the Changing Rooms last year. But he knew I had it. And he had never asked for it back. He said it looked better on me then it had ever looked on him – but I highly doubted that.

If it was humanely possible...that letter had just made me love Harry Potter even more.


End file.
